The Soca river was the next stop on our tour in and around Austria. This river is famous around the world not only for the pristine water and the diverse whitewater of all difficulties but its also know for the beautiful surrounding valley and awesome food. Generally speaking - good times! After Reiner and the guys had driven over the Großglockner pass road and I had picked up my wife in Villach we all met up again at camp Lazar in Kobarid.

Großglockner road - Photo: Reiner Glanz

We spend the next days running many different sections of the Soca and doing laps on the infamous cataract gorge. To make it short, this river is one of the best in the alps.

Reiner and Jim at Soca cateract

Soca cateract gorge - Photo: Daniel Brasuell

After two laid-back days in Slovenia we checked the gauges again and decided to do a quick switchover to eastern Tyrol. We had our eyes on a section that is usually only run in late fall with low water - the Isel gorge. Although the last days had already been warmer in the valleys they still had been quite cold higher up. Since the Isel comes from high mountains it had only risen very little to a perfect level for the gorge.

This section is quite special. It’s a short one distance wise, but it contains some must run rapids, two portages with repels and a barely scoutable, unportagable exit slide/fall that drops about 10 meters.

Jim boofs the first one of Isel gorge

Reiner follows

Exciting whitewater between vertical walls

first rappel, some people jump here...

Daniel on the rappel

Daniel below the second rappel

Harald entering the big exit drop

Reiner follows

Jim on the same

same drop, different view - Photo: Reiner Glanz

We took advantage of the low levels again on the next day and got on the Prosegg gorge of the Tauernbach - another run that is usually done in fall. Nice whitewater with some must runs here and there and some fun boogie in-between. Don’t miss the takeout since it drops into some unrunnable gnar, thats very difficult to portage on river level!

One of the must runs on Tauernbach

After these seldom run specials we showed our American friends some classics of eastern Tyrol - Defereggenbach (Schwarzach) waterfalls, Tunnel-run and the Isel cataract.

Jim runs the first waterfall on Defereggenbach

Fly! - Photo: Reiner Glanz

Photo: Reiner Glanz

Jim on the second falls - Photo: Reiner Glanz

Same from below

Isel valley, another day ends

Paul enjoys the moment

The first week of boating together came to an end and Reiner had to leave the group to go home with his wife Ali who had joined us three days earlier to work. The rest of the group continued on to Italy.

This last trip in and around Austria has been a special one. We haven't ever been on a kayak trip through our home country for two weeks since that's usually enough time to drive to Piemonte, Ticino or even Norway. We ended up on this rountrip because Daniel Brasuell decided he wanted to visit the eastern alps and Jim Janney decided to come with him.Since this area is something like our backyard and we spend many weekends there, we figured it would be fun to show Daniel and Jim around the Eastern Alps.Reiner picked the guys up in Munich Sunday morning and we all met up at Gimbach before noon to warm up with a little hike-in for the short but fun run. The weather was very cold and it had rained and snowed the last couple of days. The rain was actually very well timed since all the runs in the Salzkammergut area wouldn't have been possible without it.

You can call it FAIL, you can call it ART.... Fact is, I was too slow setting the ISO...

Robert Machacek

Jürgen Maier on one of the slides

Jim Janney waking up after a long flight

After Gimbach we bombed down Rettenbach and finished the day on the infamous Koppentraun run at somewhat high levels.Since the weather got even colder in the evening and a boat also needed some welding we decided to spend the night at our uncle and aunts' house. Also the sauna there isn't bad when it's 5°C outside.Because of the cold weather and since the rain had stopped we decided to drive to Untertalbach the next day, so it wouldn't drop out on us. After a fun first lap with taking pictures and video we had some more quicker laps. Untertalbach is one of the best creeks in the eastern alps and despite the level being medium-low the group had a lot of fun there. Also it turned out that taking pictures near angry farmers can also be much more dangerous than running the waterfalls.

Untertalbach!

Daniel Brasuell, same drop

The GlanzBros. entering the mini gorge, Photo: Jürgen Maier

short while later, on the slides, Photo: Jürgen Maier

To end the day we drove on to Lammer to have some evening laps on the Lammeröfen, another classic in the Salzkammergut area. It's a short run with nice whitewater and breathtaking views.

The Lammeröfen: what a rad place!

Well, we hoped to get on a (illegal) run in Germany the next day, but the creek turned out to be too low, so we ran the Saalach gorge instead and decided to switch over to Slovenia next. Some did the scenic drive over the Großglockner pass road while Harald picked up Hannah and the kids in Villach.